Saints women's hockey edged by Quinnipiac, 2-1; season comes to an end

Saturday, March 1, 2014 - 10:57 pm

A third-period rally by the Saints wasn't enough to overcome an early two-goal deficit, as their season ended with a 2-1 loss to Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon in Hamden, Conn. The Bobcats swept the best-of-three series to advance to the ECAC Hockey tournament at Clarkson next weekend.

With a third-period power-play goal, St. Lawrence senior co-captain Mel Desrochers increased her all-time program lead in goals by a defenseman, as she departs with 27 career tallies.

An aggressive third gave the Saints the final edge in shots, 26-21, but they struggled to generate chances in the early going, registering just five shots in the first period and finding themselves in a 1-0 hole heading into the first intermission.

It was Kelly Babstock who gave the Bobcats the lead with a breakaway goal at the 11:42 mark of the first, as she skated in alone and deked around St. Lawrence goaltender Carmen MacDonald to tuck the puck inside the far post. Shiann Darkangelo sprung Babstock with a two-line pass from inside the Quinnipiac defensive zone which she played off the wall away from the aggressive St. Lawrence forecheck, particularly sophomore forward Jenna Marks, who nearly intercepted the circle-to-circle pass from Emma Woods to Darkangelo that started the play.

Midway through the second period, the Saints killed off a five-minute cross-checking penalty to sophomore Kailee Heidersbach. Allowing just five shots on goal and stifling any chance of sustained offensive pressure by the Bobcats, the momentum appeared to be swinging in the Saints direction.

However, three minutes later with 5:15 to play in the middle frame, Darkangelo extended the Bobcats lead to 2-0 when she sent a soft snap shot into traffic to MacDonald's left. The shot hit a stick in front, changed direction and slipped past the Saints' netminder on the short side. Initially the officials signaled no goal indicating it was kicked in, but upon review overturned the call and gave the home team a two-goal advantage.

With eight minutes to play in regulation, the Saints had their best opportunity of the night when goaltender Chelsea Laden fumbled a rebound and tossed the puck out into crease as she slid across the goal mouth. Two Bobcat defenders fell to ice while sophomore Abbey McRae and senior Rylee Smith dug for the puck underneath the pile, but couldn't bury.

On the power-play after Cydney Roesler was whistled for hooking and with MacDonald on the bench for an extra attacker, Desrochers cut the Bobcats lead in half with a shot from the right circle that rang off the far post and behind Laden. Smith assisted on the play, as the duo passed circle-to-circle to spread the defense and give Desrochers a shooting lane.

MacDonald once again wen to the bench for the extra attacker following the ensuing faceoff and Heidersbach had two good chances was stopped by Laden and then had a shot blocked by Nicole Connery to seal the win for the Bobcats.

The Saints finish the season with a 13-19-3 record overall a 12-9-3 mark against league opponents.